Tag Archives: Grand Forks

Housing

SRD Staff Looking Into Temporary Occupancy Permits for Tiny Homes

Leave a comment

At their June 11 meeting, the Electoral Areas Service Committee (EASC) heard a staff report on tiny home initiatives in the Regional District of Nanaimo. This followed an ongoing discussion that began with a motion from Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney, of Area C, last November.

Director Mawhinney:“I noticed that in other regional districts, temporary use permits are being used for a variety of purposes—potentially to permit tiny homes as long-term temporary accommodation, if you want to call it that.

Continue reading SRD Staff Looking Into Temporary Occupancy Permits for Tiny Homes →
Animals

Signals in the dark: How Comox Valley volunteers monitor bats against a devastating disease

By David Flawse, The Discourse, , Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

In a flurry of wings, six mother bats drop from their roost and take to the half-lit sky. 

“Wow!” says Heather Thomson. “They’re early tonight.” 

Thomson, program manager for the Cumberland Community Forest Society, sits with five other citizen scientists in folding camping chairs near a rural Comox Valley home on June 18. 

It’s a clear, still night, and they’re tucked into sweaters while positioned under three bat boxes.

The six bat enthusiasts are here for the B.C. Annual Bat Count, an initiative launched in 2012 for researchers to monitor bat health across the province. 

Continue reading Signals in the dark: How Comox Valley volunteers monitor bats against a devastating disease →
Health

Greater Campbell River Continues To Be Among BC’s worst Local Health Areas For Toxic Drug Deaths

Greater Campbell River continues to be one of the worst Local Health Areas in the province for unregulated drug deaths, according to the BC Coroner’s Service. Vancouver-Centre North, Terrace, Prince George and Grand Forks were also named.   

So far this year, 1,925 British Columbians have lost their lives because of unregulated drug use. 155 of them died in October. 

These numbers come on the heels of the Canadian Mental Health Association’s recently released State of Mental Health in Canada 2024, which reported that “32% of all apparent drug-related deaths in Canada occurred in British Columbia. This province is ground zero in the drug toxicity crisis. The high rates of housing insecurity and unaffordability, core housing need and poverty all contribute to these drug-related harms.” 

Continue reading Greater Campbell River Continues To Be Among BC’s worst Local Health Areas For Toxic Drug Deaths →
Jobs

Keeping a low profile: jobless rate in Kootenay region stays below provincial average for second month

By Timothy Schafer, The Nelson Daily, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Although the jobless rate has slipped slightly in the Kootenay region it still remains well below the provincial and national rates.

The percentage for known unemployed people in the Kootenay region — which includes West and East Kootenay, as well as Nelson, Castlegar, Trail and Grand Forks — was 3.2 per cent in March, according to Statistics Canada latest figures, up from 2.9 per cent in February.

Continue reading Keeping a low profile: jobless rate in Kootenay region stays below provincial average for second month →
Disaster, Forests

Connecting the dots between clearcut logging and BC’s megafloods

Vancouver based filmmaker Daniel J Pierce just released a film that attempts to connect the dots between clearcut logging and the megafloods wreaking havoc in BC’s Interior. 

Continue reading Connecting the dots between clearcut logging and BC’s megafloods →